Traders love the stats and ephemera. Among them, best Halloween show. For my money, '79 & '80 (Blair likes '85). Not to discount this show, in the massive Wembley Stadium. They played to the corners. After selling out Wembley two nights, an extra show was added for the next night. That's a long way from playing a West End theater in '72 (or the Ally Pally in '74). The 1st Paris show from a few days earlier has greater renown, but it does seem like the boys were into playing the great Wembley, and there are great versions sprinkled through the three nights. This is a Hornsby, 7-man show (the slick two-keys era), and the first of two Halloweens with Bruce (also the final two played).

First Set. You can't hear Phil well on Help on the Way and the percussion is not well-balanced for a '90, but the playing is stadium-sized out the gate. They are here to give notice beyond NW London. The Franklin's is fully explored. Little Red Rooster is pwned by Bruce and tight (though not particularly adventurous). The rest of the set is above average. Must Have Been Roses ain't half bad in its dual-keys version. Bruce switches to accordion for Masterpiece. Jer starts losing his voice on the bottom of the set, but Bird Song has the brio to satisfy. Vince is good on Promised Land. Like much of '90, played like pros, but with little fireworks...and with 80,000 people.

Second Set. A 1hr45min set gives the punters their money's worth. Scarlet has a cut of a several seconds at the beginning (try the matrix). Like Help on the Way, it got even better on a second listen. And don't forget: Grosvenor Square is actually nearby (maybe somebody had a chance to go walking around). The jam into and including Fire is even better. Jer pushes them abruptly into Fire, just leaving it all onstage (from 1:05>2:53 of Fire is on Backstage Pass, during the end credits). Bobby can't, for the life of him, recall the lyric order on Truckin'. Drums>Space isn't a particularly stadium-sized version, but the hot Watchtower definitely is. Jer leaves is all onstage again for Stella, but nobody takes the ball and heads down pitch for Around & Around. By Good Lovin' Bobby is drama-squelching (weird balance issues on the SBD). The beginning of obvious pick Werewolves of London was clipped in the concert itself, but the SBD also has a couple dropouts at the start. The AUDs have the beginning as heard. It's not as good as the next year, but not bad as far as these game attempts go.

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: C
Overall = 3 stars

Highlights:
Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin's Tower - what a start, and Jer squeezes as much as he can
Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain - the latter is an especially good version

SOURCES: The ladner_8070 is the best SBD. The best AUD is the houck-wright_gmb_90844, though it runs fast, needing -1.5% pitch correction. The others are muffled on the highs or thumpy. D. Usborne made a great matrix (125745 mtx_dusborne), which is the best choice for both the beginning of Scarlet and the correct Drums>Space [without repeated section]. The show is usually up on YouTube - or more accurately, footage of Jer from this show. Part of Scarlet>Fire was officially released on the Backstage Pass vid.

I sang a little while and then flew on.

solid show

The atmosphere was electric in celebration of The Day of the Dead/Halloween in the UK. Fun times with my brother and friends and the wider Dead family. We entered on Slipknot and found our seats as they burst into Franklin's. What a start! For many in Europe, the rains had come after years of drought! Jerry's voice is rough but it had a bear's edge to it. This show was wild. Alot of Freaks wandering around, strangers stopping strangers....I wonder if the band ever played this date south of the border, in Mexico? Still howlin'!

Highlights - He's Gone, Drums, Werewolf.

21 years later and i am still alive. went on the whole europe tour but this show blow my mind. while traveling from paris to london we meet this guy, don't remember his name but had a fun time with him on the ship. before this show he came out of no where and give me and my friend a piece of paper and said trick or treat. not thinking much we ate it. 15 minutes later WOW!!! got into the show and they opened with help>slip by the time they hit franklins neon colors where coming out of jerry guitar, seriously!! the usher made everyone around me sit in there seat except me. he didn't know what to think about me!!! danced my ass off the whole show. I actually tripped for 3 days. I never had anything like this ever happen to me again. Thank God!!! remember kids don't take candy from strangers.

My first Halloween show and GDTS surprised me w, a seat halfway between the board and the stage on Jer's side. Thanks for that. Had a great time pre-show at a local pub and milling around outside digging on some of the Halloween get-ups. The band didn't seem quite as tight as in Paris but a great set list and a mostly well played show was a delight. Vince's keys get a little monotonous towards the end of Fire and I never did quite get used to that caliope tone of his. Oh well.

The standouts for me are The Franklin's Tower & the Looose Lucy in the first set & the ENTIRE 2nd set. Yes, the Werewolves was just too obvious a choice however it just seemed to right a choice. A 5 star keeper.

What a night !! Spaced off my face,just couldn't believe the set list.When they did "He's Gone" (for Brent),there couldn't have been a dry eye in the house.
"Werewolves" was just too obvious a choice - even though Jers voice had gone - He Had To Try.
Listening now,it wasn't that great a performance,but who cares - it was FUN. Ah Whoooo..

Went down with some uk deadheads, got hassled by some Hare Krishnas outside. Our driver gave them some £ to go away, as we'd dropped a trip. The gig was really good, apart from being hassled by some yank demanding I sell him some grass - which I did not have.
Just go away & leave me alone...then the acid kicked in, &, being Halloween, Garcia's head turned into a Pumpkin....

Nice both in performance and sound quality. If you have a stereo with no subwoofer Phil is audible but not prominant in the mix.

Flew all the way from SLC, Utah just to hear/see the Boys play Werewolves, in London, on Halloween - synchronicity rocks! Attended all three shows, one of the Hilites of my 15 year GD Long Strange Trip experience (Jerry in the Redshirt Oakland 2-85; 20th anniversary; 6 NYE's just to name a few others) Scene outside was a disappointment tho - Ugly Americans - caused me and my bud to get inside late; missed the Help>Slip>Franklin's. Still managed to locate my spot, five rows back in front of the Big Guy.
Third show was equally good. Really wanted that SOTM, but Jerry changed his mind - he was entitled to do so.
After the 3rd show I spoke with kid behind me, he'd seen the whole tour. HE was a disappointment. His words,"It kind of sux when they play Dark Star like five times on the tour." Huh? Unappreciative, or just spoiled rotten? I couldn't figure that one out.
There were no bad shows except one - Donner Summit - and that was only because Bobby's amp malfunctioned. And further more I just want to say no matter how many shows you seen - be it 1 or 2100 - we ALL saw the same amount - not enough. So appreciate what we got.
The Fat Man Rocks
Thank You Jerry
Know Our Love Will Not Fade Away.

First set has some faintly distorted lead vocals, but the remastering helped to mitigate the distortion. Overall, it's an excellent recording of a handsomely-played first half.

The boys could do no wrong: if they attempted a run up the middle it would get major yardage, if they passed they got even larger chunks, but, even when they punted the ball over to Bruce and Vince the ball ended up in Jerry's hands and recovered for a touchdown, err...goal.

Some lady offhandedly asked out loud what they played at Wembley (meaning; what setlist did the Grateful Dead perform) and another person overheard and said, "They play football here, madam."

Anyway, she was talking American football and he was talking what we Yanks call "Soccer."

Subsequently, a misunderstanding brewed, a brawl sparked and mayhem ensued. A mayhem dubbed "the Second Half".

You got yer Scarlet Fire, yer Truckin, and yer Gone. Jerry is just all over it. The band is in-synch ~ even Phil sings.

All of the rest of this show is well-scripted and choreographed and played to the hilt with the obligatory Werewolves thrown in. Ho hum on that, but bravo to the in-between.

There are so many great shows in this Bruce and Vince age that it becomes an arduous task to even to begin to discriminate as to which show is kingpin and which isn't.

Forget analyzing. After all, this effort surely must forego the anal exam and stand on its own two feat. Just sit back and enjoy ~ It's just another football game. Yeah, right!

WEREWOLVES of London Great show and who would ever deny Jerry a chance to sing it in London even if his voice was shot from a long tour.

Today is spook day and I had to say TY one more time!

Serious Jet Lag in Sweeden-$1,000.00
Two Romances- One in Berlin, One in Paris-$500.00
Getting Rip off in Amsterdam-$50.00
Falling off the Balcony at the Zenith $-250.00
Eating Peanut Butter & Nutella for three weeks $5.00
Jerry Halloween H-o-w-l-i-n-g Werewolves on location -PRICELESS!!!!!!

"I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go ..."
This was INCREDIBLE! This show ended a 30 day eurorail pass. What a long strange trip it's been. I just graduated college and headed over to London with a 6 month visa and ended up working at Harrods. I couldn't wait to get to Octoberfest in Munich and of course, Amsterdam !:>) The best part was the encore with everyone in costume. Unfortunately, my best friend Matt decided not to trip, so I was on my own, but I charged the stage and jumped into the mix.

First let me say this is the best site on the net. I visit constantly. A big thank you to the admins. Great Job! This show is a keeper. 1990 was a great year for the Dead in my opinion. Many good shows, this being near or at the top of the list. Jerry voice problems are a minor inconvienance. Lots of energy, A list material. Going to see Phil and Friends two nights from now. If there is no taper section im throwing fruit at Phil =).

THE FRANKLINS AS STATED IN PREVIOUS REVIEWS IS SIMPLY AMAZING, THE SOUND QUAILTY IS TRULY EXCELLENT. JERRY LOSES HIS VOICE A BUNCH OF TIMES THROUGHOUT THE SHOW BUT THE BOYS WERE REALLY ON TONIGHT AND IM ALL ABOUT THE LATE 1970'S AND EARLY 1980"S AND I HAVE TO GIVE IT UP TO THIS SHOW CONSIDERING ITS A 1990'S SHOW.THANK GOD FOR THE BOYS.

Great show, but I wish the band decided to ex-nay the obvious Werewolves encore. garcia's voice is shot and to hear him try to belt the werewolf noises is painful.

Jamming is top notch. Great first set to boot. would have been 5 stars if not for Jerry's voice sounding like his balls are in a blender. Poor guy.

yet another killer soundboard...and high energy show except for the usual occasional loss of jerry's voice..oh well..the band did rock on none the less....another must have.....loose lucy is my delight.:)

After last night we were getting used to the M1/M6 motorways and the 120 miles between them and home. Talk on the way down was the song list for the night. We were again lifted to higher plains and placed gently down by higher hands. Another moment you remember vivid forever. No talk on the way back home, only time for sleep ready for the extra announced night tomorrow

The Help Slip Franks from this show is Killer - Jerry loses his voice and senses it seems later in the set - Looses Lucy is awesome though - Loved this tour thanks for not canceling it.

hup.huppety hup.huppppety hup hup hup.No green.Hupppety hup.Werewolves!Michael Jackson's face on the Star!huppety hup hup hup.The Tube afterwards!
Huppppety hup hup huppety hup.Stella Beautiful!hupppety hup.

Garcia sounds kinda like he had a sore throat. Explosive first set though. download it!

Garcia's voice is a little rough and he does forget the lyrics to Birdsong and Scarlet but its all good. The music is supurb, Bruce rocks.
Another great recording.

This show is and was absolutely scrumptious. The h-s-f was more than an appetizer, the scarlet-he's gone was, to me, the delectable main course, filled with morsels of yumminess. the stella through london was magnificent, all in a delicious feast. Bravo!

Recently I've been listening to the first set of
10-31-90 a lot. The Help>Slip>Franklin's specifically, and I can't get over the jam at the end of Help. The man still blows me away.